You can thank Joe Belfiore, Microsoft corporate vice president for Window Phone program management, for the scheduling mix-up: He was the one who said, during an April speech at Microsoft's Mix11 conference, that Skype for Windows Phone would hit in fall 2011.

This time around, however, it's a Skype executive doing the promisingwell, technically a Microsoft executive as well. While there's no specific timeline attached to his statements, the mention that "Microsoft is working on a Windows Phone product" in relation to Skype now puts vice president of products Rick Osterloh on the firing line. And Windows Phone owners will know exactly where to direct their complaints should Osterloh's claims that a Skype product is "coming out soon" not come to pass.

In the video interview, taped during this year's Consumer Electronoics Show, Osterloh goes on to discuss the various other integrations between Microsoft and Skype currently on the horizon. Windows Phone is up first, followed by the future porting of Skype over to Windows 8, the Xbox 360, and Microsoft Lync.

While Osterloh doesn't spill the beans on what kind of experience Skype's going to bring to the Windows Phonea native app versus a more direct integration into the operating systemsources speaking to The Verge's Tom Warren indicated that the first Skype go-around for Windows Phone will likely receive the app treatment. The fourth-quarter release of Windows Phone's "Apollo" update is expected to more closely tie Skype into the operating system itself.

And when might the official Skype release hit? We're a bit hesitant to predict, given the app's track record this far for Windows Phone. But could Osterloh's "soon" in some way relate to next month's Mobile World Congress?

David Murphy got his first real taste of technology journalism when he arrived at PC Magazine as an intern in 2005. A three-month gig turned to six months, six months turned to occasional freelance assignments, and he has since rejoined his tech-loving, mostly New York-based friends as one of PCMag.com's news contributors.
His rise to (self-described) fame in the world of tech journalism began during his stint as an associate editor at Maximum PC, where his love of cardboard-based PC construction and meetings put him in...
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